It took me a few months to realise that there is a panorama mode on this phone. This was westport lake last month. I like that my partner is at the far right and the path continues at the far left. The geese are at different heights which seems to work with the step where the landing stage cuts into the waters surface. Mine and my friends shadow are a bit annoying but the sun was setting behind us and all the shadows fan in towards the lake. I like how the path on the left is straight and not curved like the rest of the photo.

I’m picking random photos to look at because often they just get a glance and then I move on……

Caught on camera, this fairie metallic us, seen flitting over the lake at Trentham Gardens. Like a dragonfly. Was she catching gnats for supper or taking a drink of water from the lake.

Fairies rarely stay still long enough to be photographed. Their magic powers mean that they can hide from view. I only caught this image by dodging out from between the trees and having my camera on zoom. That is why it suffers from camera shake.

Lol actually there are lots of wire weave fairies at Trentham but I just tried to write a small fiction about this one.

I painted this out in the open air a couple of years ago. It took a couple of hours to paint. As you can see the day was very overcast. This is a small acrylic on canvas. I don’t actually know where it is. I have a feeling that I sold it?

I’ve painted from this position a few times, looking down the lake towards the Italian Gardens at Trentham. The end of the lake at this end is next to Trentham monkey forest where they have two troops of macaque monkeys.

I hope to go back soon and try and draw some of them. They are beautiful animals and they are so cute when they are babies.

In the meantime I’m feeling a bit better so over the next few weeks I will try and get some new paintings done.

The lake was quiet on that day in November. The little ferry was only open one day a week so people could get supplies from the local village. It had been raining all morning. Grey clouds full of grey rain. The lake remained calm, placid, but the weather threatened to grow worse and the pressure was dropping.

They had caught the ferry earlier on in the afternoon and now they were making the trip back. Suddenly the wind whipped up. The water started to get choppy and white tops grew on the waves that were building up. Instead of the calm trip they were used to, the little boat was rising and falling over the crest of the waves, tipping and twisting. The internal lights came on and the ships captain announced that they were taking in a little water and that all passengers must remain calm, but they should all go to their muster points at the front and back of the ferry.

It was not far from shore when the propeller caught an old floating tree trunk. The forward motion stopped and the ferry lurched up and down. Waves were crashing over the prow, and the rain seemed to intensify.

When the squall passed the boat was gone. Only floating life rafts could be seen from shore. Of the twenty people on the boat 18 survived. The only two that were missing were an older man and woman. They were still holding hands when their bodies were found on the shingle beach in the morning.

I’ve seen a lot of Canada Geese on the lake this weekend. They fly to Britain to overwinter where they can rest and survive over the winter .

I think they are smart looking birds with their black, white and brown markings.

They are certainly pushy when it comes to feeding them. When I was feeding the ducks yesterday the Canada Geese grabbed a fair share of the food. They are certainly bold!

I love the way you can go for a walk and see lots of birds at the lake. We saw small birds as well, Robins, a blackbird and a couple of wrens. Not close enough to get photos, but still close enough to see them.